In the News

Ariz. 20-Week Ban is Unconstitutional, Slate Opinion Piece Argues

Ariz. 20-Week Ban is Unconstitutional, Slate Opinion Piece Argues

November 6, 2012 — In a Slateopinion piece about
a challenge to Arizona’s 20-week abortion ban, Emily Bazelon writes, "When in a pregnancy can a state ban abortion? For years, the answer has been clear: after viability."

Bazelon outlines reasons why the court will "probably" strike down the Arizona law, including that it "defies the spirit of Roe v. Wade and the letter of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court's 1992 affirmation of the core of Roe, which allows the state to regulate abortion before viability but to bar it only after that threshold has passed."
Nonetheless, the case is a "reminder ... of the impact of the wave of state restrictions on abortion that have passed since Republican electoral gains in 2010, and of how the ground will shift under women's feet if the courts let these [laws stand]" (Bazelon, Slate, 11/5).

Video Round Up

An Interview with Justice Ginsburg on the State of Abortion Access

In a rare interview, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells MSNBC's Irin Carmon it is a "crying shame" that state abortion restrictions are making the procedure increasingly "[i]naccessible" to many low-income women. Watch the video

Datapoints

A Look at Abortion Coverage in the ACA's Marketplace Plans, Repro Health Report Card, More

This week's charts depict why abortion coverage is unavailable in many states' ACA marketplace plans for 2015. We also feature a national reproductive health report card and an interactive look at abortion restrictions in Missouri. Read more

At A Glance

"[Roe v. Wade] protects a woman's freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters."

— President Obama, commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Read more